We are pleased to announce that tomatoes are officially in season at the Farm Stand! We’re currently harvesting two cherry varieties (Sun Gold and Cherry Bomb) and one cocktail variety (Clementine). If you look at the tomatoes below, you’ll see a mix of cherries on the right and our orange Clementine cocktail tomatoes on the left. Clementine is slightly larger than our cherries and has a sweet-tart flavor. Since tomatoes are just making their way into season, we will have limited quantities available over the next week or two but then there should be a more consistent abundance throughout May and early June. You can find our tomatoes on the shelf next to the coolers at the Farm Stand. 

The farm is looking really colorful these days thanks to all of our blooming flowers! Now that we’re consistently seeing more blooms, we’ll be offering fresh cut flower bouquets during our in-person Farm Stand on Saturdays from 9am-noon. We’re currently harvesting a mix of snapdragons (below), zinnias, and cosmos with sunflowers coming soon. Since we will have limited quantities each week, we’ll only be offering our bouquets on Saturdays for the time being. Make sure to get to the Farm Stand early if you want one!

We spotted the very first artichokes this week! As we shared in this post back in February, we decided to experiment with growing artichokes again this year. It would appear that our strategy of getting them in the ground earlier worked because we’re starting to see artichokes forming. Artichokes are a variety of thistle that is grown for its edible flower head (below). The unopened flower heads are harvested so that their base (the artichoke heart) can be enjoyed. We’ll let you know as soon as this exciting new crop makes its way to the Farm Stand! 

In Season at the Farm Stand: Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Beets, Salad Mix, Kale, Swiss Chard, Spring Onions, Dill, Cilantro, and Basil. 

Coming Soon: Slicing Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants

We’ll have a lovely surprise for you at the Farm Stand on Saturday: marigold bouquets! There will be a limited amount of bouquets made with our orange and yellow marigold flowers grown in the high tunnel. These bouquets are the perfect way to add some color to your home. Or, you can give them to your favorite valentine! Since we have a limited amount, we highly recommend getting there early on Saturday if you would like to take one home! The in-person Farm Stand is open from 9am-noon on Saturday.

If you’re planning on stopping by the Farm Stand on Saturday, we highly recommend sticking around for our monthly Farm Tour at 10:30am. We’ll be discussing all of the spring crops we’ve seeded thus far in the greenhouse and what you can expect to see in the coming weeks. You’ll also have the chance to see some of the exciting new crops we’ve been planting and ask us any questions you might have. Our Farm Tours are open to the public and free of charge so we hope to see you there! 

Thanks to some experimentation last year, we’re trialing a crop of artichokes again this year! Even though we weren’t able to harvest any artichokes last year before summer set in, we learned a lot and are excited to try again. This year, we transplanted them much earlier so that they have plenty of cool days to grow and produce. The variety we’re growing is called “Imperial Star” and it will produce green artichokes. We are excited to see how they do and will keep you updated on their progress. 

In Season at the Farm Stand: Kale, Collard Greens, Salad Mix, Carrots, Fennel, Watermelon Radish, Kohlrabi, Purple Cauliflower, and Orange Cauliflower. 

We’re almost ready to make our first spaghetti squash harvest! These squashes are ready for harvest once their skin turns yellow and has toughened up enough to pass the thumbnail test. This is a simple process that involves pressing your thumbnail against the skin of the squash. If it leaves a dent, the squash isn’t ready for harvest. Once harvested, we’ll be curing our spaghetti squashes in the greenhouse to allow their skins to toughen further and prepare them for storage. We can’t wait to pair them with some of our tomatoes!

As we transition from spring to summer on the farm, we’ll be gradually phasing out our remaining spring crops. The first of these to make their way out of season will be our collard greens, beets, and green garlic. Make sure to stock up on what we have left at the Farm Stand because you won’t see these again until winter/spring. Luckily, we have plenty of summer veggies to take their place like our tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and squashes!

Remember the artichoke seeds that we soaked and planted at the beginning of the year? You can see what the plants look like now in the photo below! Since this is an experimental crop, we have them planted in a small section of one of our beds. Our hope is to see them begin flowering soon as these plants have a tendency to go dormant in very hot temperatures. Even if we aren’t able to harvest any artichokes, this has been an insightful experiment from which we’ve been able to glean knowledge for future plantings!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Slicing Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Purple Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Leeks, Onions, Celery, Kale, Carrots, Beets (last chance), and Green Garlic (last chance).

Remember the first round of tomato seeds we planted a few weeks back? As you can see in the photo above, they’ve started to germinate! Keeping them tented in an extra layer of greenhouse film definitely helped keep them warm and happy in the greenhouse throughout the freeze. In order to make sure we have plenty of tomatoes for both the high tunnel and the field, we planted seeds for the second round last week. This planting included Jolene (a deep red beefsteak) and Juliet (a red mini-Roma variety).

A new year brings the perfect opportunity to experiment with new crops on the farm. The seeds of the first new veggie we’re trying can be seen soaking in water in the photo below. Any guesses? They’re artichoke seeds! Artichokes are an edible variety of thistle that are native to the Mediterranean. The part that we consume is the heart or inner portion of the unopened flower buds. We are incredibly excited to see how this experiment goes! Our hope is to be able to share some artichokes with you in late spring or early summer.

Since our greenhouse didn’t incur any losses during the freeze, it’s packed with plenty of veggies to plant in the field! Once we remove our frost-damaged crops and prepare our beds, we’ll be planting the next round of winter crops. This round is a colorful mix of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, scallions, spinach, lettuces, and herbs like cilantro. Make sure to come to our free farm tour on Saturday, January 14th from 9am-noon so you can see how much progress these crops have made!

In Season at the Farm Stand: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy, hon tsai tai, beets, and watermelon radishes.

Upcoming Events:

• Free Farm Tours on Saturday, January 14th, 9am-noon